SNL Financial Appoints Norm Richardson Associate Director of Energy

Mr. Richardson brings to SNL more than 13 years of experience in the development and use of software for these vital areas: electric market price forecasting, power supply planning and risk analysis, asset valuation, and power system operations and reliability.

Charlottesville, Va. (Vocus) May 5, 2008 -- Norm Richardson has joined SNL Financial (www.SNL.com) as associate director of the SNL Energy Group, Power Markets Research and Product Development. Mr. Richardson was previously employed as vice president of Energy Forecasting and Planning for NewEnergy Associates LLC - A Ventyx Company and was responsible for NewEnergy's product lines for power, natural gas and financial planning.

Mr. Richardson brings to SNL more than 13 years of experience in the development and use of software for these vital areas: electric market price forecasting, power supply planning and risk analysis, asset valuation, and power system operations and reliability. He has been an advisor and expert witness on behalf of several energy companies and has published several articles and made presentations related to power market analysis.

"Norm brings a unique combination of industry expertise and product development experience to our growing energy business," said Edward Metz, SNL Energy Group director. "Integrating different pieces of information like news, prices, operating data and more has been pivotal to our success. Increased focus on analytical views of asset and market data represents our next step forward, and Norm will be an essential contributor

to this progression."

"I'm very happy to be joining SNL Energy's team of industry experts," said Mr. Richardson. "I admire SNL's constant emphasis on innovation and improvement, and I look forward to helping SNL Energy solidify its market positions as the go-to resource for integrated energy intelligence."

About SNL Energy

SNL Energy, a division of SNL Financial, provides comprehensive intelligence for the power, natural gas and coal markets through an online service that integrates news, data, analytics and research. Other business sectors covered by parent company SNL Financial include the Banking, Specialized Financial Services, Insurance, Real Estate and Media & Communications industries. For more information, visit www.SNL.com.

SNL Contact

Monica Jenkins

Marketing Manager

Tel. 434.951.6951

SNL Financial

One SNL Plaza

Charlottesville, VA 22902

434.977.1600

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